On June 15th the White House announced additional duties of 25% would be imposed on 818 products imported from China effective July 6th. Since the additional duties will be assessed on shipments entered on or after the effective date some products already in transit will be subject to the additional duties. Aimed at higher technology products the list also covers many items commonly used in a wide range of industries. This list of HTS codes covers a value of about $50 billion in imports from China. Since this action effects a wide range of products we encourage all of our customers to check the list of HTS codes to determine if their products are included. You may also be able to determine if other products you use may be up for price increases. Your CVI representatives are here to assist you so please contact us with any questions you may have.

A second list of 284 tariff lines with an import value of $16 billion could face the same additional tariffs. This list also covers many products in common use in industry and expands into a number of plastic products as well. We again recommend that you take a look to see if you would be effected should the additional tariffs be implemented.

This action follows a Section 301 investigation which held that China’s policies and practices related to technology transfer, intellectual property rights and innovation are unreasonable and discriminatory. An earlier decision to impose additional tariffs on steel and aluminum products was tied to national security concerns after an investigation under section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. The President has further indicated that the US will pursue more tariff increases on Chinese products should China retaliate to the Section 301 tariffs. Recent news reports seem to indicate that Congress will not pass legislation intended to limit the President’s ability to impose tariffs based on national security grounds. The proposed legislation would have given Congress the power to overturn such tariffs.